MacNeal-Schwendler

Nordic AS

Laminate Modeler
Course Exercises

Erling Wiig

MSC/PATRAN
LAMINATE
MODELER COURSE
PAT 325
Workbook
P3*V8.0*Z*Z*Z*SM-PAT325-WBK

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MacNeal-Schwendler
Nordic AS
Erling Wiig

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Laminate Modeler
Course Exercises

MacNeal-Schwendler
Nordic AS

Laminate Modeler
Course Exercises

Erling Wiig

Table of Contents
Page
1

Composite Model of Loaded Flat Plate

Failure Criteria for Flat Plate

Making Plies and Layup on a fairing

component

Draping a doubly curved surface

Draping with splits

Springback analysis of an jet engine cowling

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MacNeal-Schwendler
Nordic AS
Erling Wiig

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Laminate Modeler
Course Exercises

MacNeal-Schwendler
Nordic AS

Laminate Modeler
Course Exercises

Erling Wiig

LESSON 1

Composite Model of
Loaded Flat Plate

What you will learn in this exercise

7
MSC/Patrans capabilities with Composites
8
Create a orthotropic material, a lamina and a layup
9
Postprosess calculations done on a composite model
10 The shortcomings in traditional composites calculations

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MacNeal-Schwendler
Nordic AS

Laminate Modeler
Course Exercises

Erling Wiig

THE MODEL
We will model a 1x1 meter plate, we will use millimetres as length
measurement.
The plate is 4 mm thick and is a laminate made up of 16 plies with
equal thickness. The laminate is uniform on the plate. The plies have
two orientations: 0 and 90 degrees, i.e. parallel to the plate edges.
The material properties of the lamina are:
E-modulus: E11 = 181000 MPa, E22 = 10300 MPa
Shear modulus: G12 = 7170 MPa, G23 = 5000 MPa, G13 = 7170 MPa
Poisson Ratio: 0.28
Density: 1.6E-09 kg/mm3

The plate is fixed along one end and supported vertically in one of the
other two corners.
The plate is loaded with a uniform pressure of 0.1k Pa, giving an total
force acting on the plate of 100 Newtons.
We want to investigate the occuring stresses and maximum deflection
of the plate.

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MacNeal-Schwendler
Nordic AS

Laminate Modeler
Course Exercises

Erling Wiig

1 Open a new filebase using the default template database

File, New...
New Database Name: enter flatplate
Ok
Ok
2 Create a plate 1 m square using units of Newton and Millimeter
Geometry
Action : Create
Object : Surface
Method : XYZ
Vector Coordinates List : enter <1000 1000 0>
Origin Coordinates List : enter [0 0 0]
Apply

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MacNeal-Schwendler
Nordic AS

Laminate Modeler
Course Exercises

Erling Wiig

This is all the geometry needed for this model.

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MacNeal-Schwendler
Nordic AS

Laminate Modeler
Course Exercises

Erling Wiig

3 Create a mesh
Finite Elements
Action : Create
Object : Mesh
Method : Surface
Global Edge Length : enter
125
Element Topology : select
Quad4
Mesher : select Isomesh
Surface List : pick Surface 1
Apply
4 Define loads and boundary conditions
Loads/BCs
Action : Create
Object : Displacement
Method : Nodal
New Set Name : enter Fixed Line
Input Data ...
Translations <T1 T2 T3>: enter <0,0,0>
Ok
Select Application Region...
Application Region : pick Surface 1.4 (edge)
Add
Ok
Apply
Action : Create
Object : Displacement

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MacNeal-Schwendler
Nordic AS

Laminate Modeler
Course Exercises

Erling Wiig

Method : Nodal
New Set Name : enter Supported Point
Input Data ...
Translations <T1 T2 T3> : enter <,,0>
Ok
Select Application Region...
Application Region : pick Point 2
Add
Ok
Apply
Action : Create
Object : Pressure
Method : Element Uniform
New Set Name : enter Pressure Load
Target Element Type : 2D
Input Data ...
Top Surf Pressure : enter 0.0001
Ok
Select Application Region...
Application Region : pick Surface 1
Add
Ok
Apply

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MacNeal-Schwendler
Nordic AS

Laminate Modeler
Course Exercises

Erling Wiig

Note the pressure

0.0001 which is
in MegaPascals.

Until now this

exercise has been quite straight forward, but the next step is to define
the laminate.

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MacNeal-Schwendler
Nordic AS

Laminate Modeler
Course Exercises

Erling Wiig

5 Define lamina material properties

Now we input the orthotropic material properties valid for the lamina.
Materials
Action : Create
Object : 2d Orthotropic
Method : Manual Input
Material Name: enter ud_t300_n5208
Input Properties...
Constitutive Model: Linear Elastic
Elastic Modulus 11: enter 181000
Elastic Modulus 22: enter 10300
Poisson Ratio 12: enter 0.28
Shear Modulus 12: enter 7170
Shear Modulus 23: enter 5000
Shear Modulus 13: enter 7170
Density: enter 1.6E-09
Apply
Cancel
We will also use this material in
later exercises, so a session file that
makes this material is included in
the work files for this course, named
materials.ses.

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MacNeal-Schwendler
Nordic AS

Laminate Modeler
Course Exercises

Erling Wiig

6 Define laminate properties

Now we build the laminate out of the lamina we just defined. Take
notice of how the laminate is defined in the spreadsheet.
Action : Create
Object : Composite
Method : Laminate
Material Name : enter My first Laminate
Text Entry Mode : Insert, Material Names
Enter 16(ud_t300_n5208) in the input window
Press Load Text Into Spreadsheet
Text Entry Mode : Overwrite Thicknesses
Enter 16(0.25) in the input window
Press Load Text Into Spreadsheet
Text Entry Mode : Overwrite Orientations
Enter 4(90/0) in the input window
Press Load Text Into Spreadsheet
Text Entry Mode : Overwrite Orientations
Enter 4(0/90) in the input window

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MacNeal-Schwendler
Nordic AS

Laminate Modeler
Course Exercises

Erling Wiig

Press Load Text Into Spreadsheet

Apply
7 Define element properties
The composite laminate can now be associated to the model.
Properties
Action : Create
Object : 2D
Type : Shell
Property name : enter Shell Property
Option 1: Laminate
Option 2 : Standard Formulation
Input Properties...
Material Name: select My_First_Laminate from list below
Material Orientation : Vector, Coord 0.1
Ok
Application Region : pick Surface 1

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MacNeal-Schwendler
Nordic AS

Laminate Modeler
Course Exercises

Erling Wiig

Add
Apply
Now we have related the fiber direction to the global coordinate xaxis. Half of our fibres are rotated 90 degrees related to this
direction.
8 Verify Laminate Directions
It is a good rule to check your model before an analysis is run,
especially when dealing with laminates. Remember that layer 1 is at
the bottom of the elements. First we need to check the element
normals, to determine what direction is up.
Finite Elements
Action : Verify
Object : Element
Test: Normals
Display Control : Draw Normal Vectors
Apply
Verify that all vectors are pointing in the positive z-axis direction
Properties
Action: Show
Existing Properties: Select Orientation Angle
Display Method: Select Vector Plot
Apply
We now see the initial reference direction. Note that we cannot see the
individual fibre directions. We can only check them in the laminate
spreadsheet. You can also select to show the thickness, but this is of
little interest in this case.

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MacNeal-Schwendler
Nordic AS

Laminate Modeler
Course Exercises

Erling Wiig

9 Set up and run the analysis

Analysis
Action : Analyse
Object: Entire Model
Type : Full Run
Subcase Create ...
Available Subcases : select Default
Output Requests...
Form Type: Advanced
Output Requests: select Stress
Composite Plate Opt : Ply & Elem. Stresses
Modify
Ok
Apply
Cancel
Apply
The analysis should run through in a few seconds time.

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MacNeal-Schwendler
Nordic AS

Laminate Modeler
Course Exercises

Erling Wiig

10 Read in MSC/Nastran analysis results

Action : Read Output2

Object : Result Entities
Method : Translate
Select Result File...
Selected Results File : pick flatplate.op2
Ok
Apply

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MacNeal-Schwendler
Nordic AS

Laminate Modeler
Course Exercises

Erling Wiig

10 View the Results

First we want to look at the stresses in one of the layers. For
illustrations sake, we choose layer 12, and plot stresses in the xdirection.
Results
Select Result Case : pick Default, Static Subcase
Select Fringe Result : pick Stress Tensor
Position : select Layer 12
Close
(the layer selection menu)
Option : Maximum
Close
Quantity: select X Component
Select Deformation Result: select Displacements, Translational
Apply

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MacNeal-Schwendler
Nordic AS

Laminate Modeler
Course Exercises

Erling Wiig

We also want to investigate the deflection of the plate

Select Fringe Result : Displacements, Translational
Apply

11 EXTRA, If time
Another laminate builder tool is situated in the Utilities menu,
Materials, Laminate Builder tool. Check it out.

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MacNeal-Schwendler
Nordic AS

Laminate Modeler
Course Exercises

Erling Wiig

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask!

Do not remove this exercise, it will be used later!

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MacNeal-Schwendler
Nordic AS

Laminate Modeler
Course Exercises

Erling Wiig

LESSON 2
Failure Criteria for
Flat Plate

What you will learn in this exercise

11 How to Define a Composite Failure Criterion
12 Set up a Margin of Safety analysis
13 Postprosess Margin of Safety results
14 Edit existing Composite

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MacNeal-Schwendler
Nordic AS

Laminate Modeler
Course Exercises

Erling Wiig

Additional Material information

Material allowables are needed for the Margin of Safety Analysis, the
following values can be used for the material:
Tension Stress Limit 11
1500
Tension Stress Limit 22
40
Compress Stress Limit 11 1500
Compress Stress Limit 22 246
Shear Stress Limit
68
Interaction Term
-0.5
Bonding Shear Stress
50

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MacNeal-Schwendler
Nordic AS

Laminate Modeler
Course Exercises

Erling Wiig

1 Open the last exercise database

File, Open...
Existing Database Name : select flatplate.db
Ok
2 Define Constitutive Failure Model
Materials
Action : Create
Object : 2d Orthotropic
Method : Manual Input
Material Name : select ud_t300_n5208
Constitutive Model : Failure
Failure Limits : Stress
Composite Failure Theory : Tsai-Wu
Tension Stress Limit 11 : enter 1500
Tension Stress Limit 22 : enter 40
Compress Stress Limit 11 : enter 1500
Compress Stress Limit 22 : enter 246

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MacNeal-Schwendler
Nordic AS
Erling Wiig

Shear Stress Limit :

enter 68
Interaction Term :
enter -0.5
Bonding Shear Stress
Limit : enter 50
Apply
Cancel

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Laminate Modeler
Course Exercises

MacNeal-Schwendler
Nordic AS

Laminate Modeler
Course Exercises

Erling Wiig

3 Do the failure calculation

Tools, LAMINATE MODELLER...
New Layup File...
Ok (Accept the default file name)
Action : Create
Object : LM_Results
Method : Failure Calc
Select Loadcase : pick 1- Default
Select Subcase : pick 1- Static Subcase
Select Layered Result : pick 3.1- Stress Tensor
Select Area : select Elm 1:64
Criterion : Tsai-Wu
Material Allowables...
Ok (accept default values)
Apply
Take notice of that instead of defining the Constitutive Failure Model
under the Material Menu in Patran, you could fill in the same values
in the above menu in MSC/Laminate Modeler.
When hitting Apply, the calculation is done immediately and the
results are put into the result database.

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MacNeal-Schwendler
Nordic AS

Laminate Modeler
Course Exercises

Erling Wiig

4 View Failure Results

Results
Select Result Cases : select Default, Static Subcase
Select Fringe Result : select LM_Marg_Saf, ,....
Apply

We do have a factor of 10 in safety according to this

5 Alter Failure Model
Now lets repeat step 3 and 4 with other failure models
Tools, LAMINATE MODELLER...
Open Layup File...
Layup file Name: select flatplate.Layup

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MacNeal-Schwendler
Nordic AS

Laminate Modeler
Course Exercises

Erling Wiig

Ok
Action : Create
Object : LM_Results
Method : Failure Calc
Select Loadcase : pick 1- Default
Select Subcase : pick 1- Static Subcase
Select Layered Result : pick 3.1- Stress Tensor
Select Area : select Elm 1:64
Criterion : Maximum
Material Allowables...
Ok (accept default values)
Name: maximum
Apply

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MacNeal-Schwendler
Nordic AS
Erling Wiig

The different theories should yield:

Maximum
10.3
Tsai-Wu
9.86
Hill
10.3
Hoffman
9.85
Hankinson
10.0
Cowin
10.0

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Laminate Modeler
Course Exercises

MacNeal-Schwendler
Nordic AS

Laminate Modeler
Course Exercises

Erling Wiig

6 Modify the laminate

Try modifying your model to optimize its strength at the same time as
we reduce its weight..
Suggestion: Delete ply number 15 and 16. Reorder the remaining plies
as follows: 2 ( 45 / 90 / 0 / 45 / 90 / 0 / 45 ). Re-run the analysis. The
new deflection is now down from 164 to 116 millimetres at the same
time as we reduced its weight by 12.5%.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to ask!

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MacNeal-Schwendler
Nordic AS

Laminate Modeler
Course Exercises

Erling Wiig

LESSON 3

Making Plies and

Layup on a Fairing
Component
What you will learn
15 Make plies in Laminate Modeler
16 Make a layup in Laminate Modeler
17 Get some experience on a more realistic model

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MacNeal-Schwendler
Nordic AS

Laminate Modeler
Course Exercises

Erling Wiig

1 Make the geometry

Open a new database fairing.db
Generate the goemetry and finite elements by playing the session file
fairing_geom.ses
2 Apply the loads and boundary conditions
Enter displacement restriction one <0,0,0> on edge Surface 7.3
Enter displacement restriction two <0,,> on edge Surface 7.1
Create pressure load (2D) with Top pressure 0.1 on Surface 1:6
3 Enter the material properties
Define the ply material properties by playing the session file
materials.ses
Enter the Laminate Modeler and open a new layup file
Define the laminate modeler material from ud_t300_n5208 with
thickness 0.25, all other settings default.
4 Create the plies
Set view angles to 100,-10,40 (Viewing, Angles)
Create a ply with
18 Application Region: Surface 1 3 2 7
19 Starting point: Node 75
20 Reference Direction: Along fairing, e.g. from Node 75 to Node
108
21 Reference Angle: 0
Repeat for reference angle 45 degrees

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MacNeal-Schwendler
Nordic AS

Laminate Modeler
Course Exercises

Erling Wiig

Make the 8 next plies as follows, keep the starting point for all, see the
below figure for the correct view angles.
Keep the starting point at node 75
Ply #
3
4
5
6
7
9
10

Reference Angle
0
45
0
45
0
1. 8
45
0
45

Application Region View Vectors

Surface 7 5 6 4
(-100,0,20)

Surface 3 5
(80,-5,20)

Surface 2 3 5 6

Surface 1 2 3 4 5 6

5 Create the layup

Define the layup by stacking the plies as shown in the table below:
Number
1-8
9-16
17-24
25-32
33-40

Ply stacking sequence

1/2/1/2/1/2/1/2
3/4/3/4/3/4/3/4
5/6/5/6/5/6/5/6
7/8/7/8/7/8/7/8
9 / 10 / 9 / 10 / 9 / 10 / 9 / 10

You should now have 40 layers of plies

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MacNeal-Schwendler
Nordic AS

Laminate Modeler
Course Exercises

Erling Wiig

Use no offset, standard element type, and default tolerance

When hitting apply, thre program informes you that it created 8
laminate materials and 21 property regions.
6 Check you model before solving
Check the plies (fiber direction and application region) using the
Laminate Modeler
Action: Show
Object: Ply
Method: Graphics
LM_Ply_Data: Select one ply
Apply
Action: Show
Object: LM_Layup
Method: Exploded
Select LM_Plys: Select several plies or even all
Apply
7 Create the analysis input deck
Remember to request ply stress as output
8 Analyse and read the results
Run the analysis and read the result
Verify that the laminate materials and properties have been created

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MacNeal-Schwendler
Nordic AS

Laminate Modeler
Course Exercises

Erling Wiig

9 Postprosess the results

Take a look at the deformations, the different layer stresses etc.

If you have any difficulty with this exercise, examine or play the
session file fairing.ses after opening a new database.

LESSON 4

Draping a Doubly
Curved Surface

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MacNeal-Schwendler
Nordic AS

Laminate Modeler
Course Exercises

Erling Wiig

What you will learn from this exercise

22 How to make a drape

23 How different inputs, such as starting point
and reference angle, affect shear
24 What is meant by step length

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MacNeal-Schwendler
Nordic AS

Laminate Modeler
Course Exercises

Erling Wiig

4. 1 Make the model

Open a new database called Drapeintro.db
Play session file drapeintro_geom.ses to create geometry and mesh
2 Create the materials
Play session file materials.ses to create materials
Create a scissor drape material with default values from LM_Material
ud_t300_n5208
3 Create the first ply
Set angles to 0 0 0 to obtain default view
Create a scissor drape ply with start point in the middle of the surface,
the reference direction in the global X-direction, reference angle zero,
covering the entire surface
Note that shear strain increases away from the starting point and the
principal axes, which are geodesic lines by default
Use the graphics control form to plot and hide the draped pattern,
element angles, flat pattern, maximum strain value and starting point.
Note the maximum shear angle of 14 degrees.
4 Create the second ply
Change the reference angle to 30 degrees and create another scissor
drape ply
Note that this results in lower shear, 9 degrees.
Also, change in ply orientations is not necessarily equal to 30 degrees
on individual elements, as a consequence of the nonlinearity of the
draping process

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MacNeal-Schwendler
Nordic AS

Laminate Modeler
Course Exercises

Erling Wiig

5 Create the third ply

Change the starting point to the middle of the lower edge (e.g. node
11) and create another scissor draped ply
Note the increased shear due to greater distances from the start point,
maximum 30 degrees.
6 Investigate the function of step length
Change the step length to Implicit 2 (set in Additional Controls,
Geometry) and create another similar scissor draped ply.
The default step length is calculated as a function of the area of the
surface of the model. This multiplies the default step length by 2
Change the step length to Explicit, 2 (set in Additional Controls,
Geometry) and create another scissor draped ply
This changes the step length to exactly 2 units
Note that for small step lengths, the pattern may not cover the entire
surface because the number of possible steps is limited due to limited
(not unlimited!) computer resources.

If you have any difficulty with this exercise, examine or play the
session file drapeintro.ses after opening a new database.

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MacNeal-Schwendler
Nordic AS

Laminate Modeler
Course Exercises

Erling Wiig

LESSON 5

Draping with splits

What you will learn from this exercise

25 How splits are introduced in a ply
26 Capabilities and limitations using splits

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MacNeal-Schwendler
Nordic AS

Laminate Modeler
Course Exercises

Erling Wiig

1 Create the geometry

In the Goemetry menu
Action: Create
Object: Curve
Method: 2DArc 2Angles
Enable Patran2 convention
Curves pr. arc: enter 3
Radius: enter 500
Start Angle: enter 0
End Angle: enter 90
Action: Create
Object: Surface
Method: Revolve
Enable Patran2 convention
Axis: Coord 0.2
Total Angle: enter 360
Surface pr Curve: enter 8
Curve List: Pick curve 1:3
2 Create the mesh
In the Finite Elements Menu
Action: Create
Object: Mesh
Methods: Surface
Global Edge Length: enter 50
Element Topology: select Quad4
Mesher: Select Paver
Surface List: select Surface 1:24
Do not bother with the mesh quality for this exercise
Action: Equivalence

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MacNeal-Schwendler
Nordic AS

Laminate Modeler
Course Exercises

Erling Wiig

Object: Nodes
Method: Tolerance Qube
Tolerance Cube: enter 0.01
3 Create the materials
Play session file materials.ses to input the material
Create a LM_Material based on ud_t300-n5208 with default values
4 Create the plies
View the model from above (Angles 90,0,0)
Set Step Length to Explicit 25. Create A Scissor Drape with starting
point in the centre covering all the surfaces. Reference Direction along
the global X-axis, Reference Angle 0.
Note that the maximum shear angle is 50 degrees! This is not usable
for any real world application.
Do another similar drape with Reference Angle 45 degrees. Note no
changes in shear (of course).
5 Introduce Cuts
Introduce four cuts. This is done under Additional Controls,
Boundaries, Define Splits.
Add the lover four curves where the shear is excessive to the split
application region.
Remake the drape (keep 45 degrees Ref angle)
Maximum shear is now reduced to 43 degrees. This is better than our
last try, but still too much.

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MacNeal-Schwendler
Nordic AS

Laminate Modeler
Course Exercises

Erling Wiig

6 Refine Cuts
Extend the cuts by adding the next four curves and redrape using the
same inputs. The maximum shear angle is now 35 degrees. This is still
not good, but we will keep it for this exercise. In fact the only solution
to our problem is to drape smaller sections of the sphere.
7 Make a new drape
Now redefine the cuts to the other 8 lines in a similar fashion and
redrape with an Reference Angle of 0 degrees. This drape is exactly
the same other than being rotated 45 degrees about the global y-axis
8 Make the layup
Note that you can use the Show, LM_Ply, Graphics to browse through
the existing plies to see which to choose when making the layup.
Create a layup with the last two plies explained in this exercise. Stack
them in a A/B/A/B fashion until the total number of layers is 16.
9 Make boundary- and loading conditions
Create an displacement restriction of <,0,> for the translations
applicable for all the lines in the bottom of the sphere.
Create another displacement restriction of <0,0,0> for the translations
and <0,0,0> for the rotations for on point anywhere on the sphere
lower edge.
Add an internal pressure on all surfaces of 1 (MPa)
10 Do the analysis
Run the analysis and read the results

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MacNeal-Schwendler
Nordic AS
Erling Wiig

11 Postprosess
Look at the displacements in the y-direction.
Explain what you see!

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Laminate Modeler
Course Exercises

MacNeal-Schwendler
Nordic AS

Laminate Modeler
Course Exercises

Erling Wiig

LESSON 6

Springback analysis of
a jet engine cowling

What you will learn from this exercise

27 Importance of springback, and the need to correct for it
28 Thermal induced deflections on a composite model

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MacNeal-Schwendler
Nordic AS

Laminate Modeler
Course Exercises

Erling Wiig

1 Make the model

Create a new database springback.db
Play sesion file springback_geom.ses to generate geometry
2 Make the material
Play session file materials.ses to create materials
Create a laminate material using ud_t300_n5208 properties and a
thickness of 0.25 (mm)
3 Make the plies
Create a ply with origin [1250 0 1250] and initial vector along the
global x-axis
Create similar plies, but with different reference angles: 45, 90 and
135 degrees.
4 Make the layup
Create a layup with the 0,45,90,135 plies stacked six times (giving a
24 ply layup)
5 Spesify the boundary conditions
Fix lower edge in translation and rotation
Create a nodal temperature load of 55 over the whole body

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MacNeal-Schwendler
Nordic AS

Laminate Modeler
Course Exercises

Erling Wiig

6 Analyse the model

Analyse the model, and read in the results
You now simulates what happens when the material cools from curing
temperature to room temperature. Because of the orthotropic thermal
and mechanical properties the model distorts. This yields a different
model shape than the one we made in the mould. Abviously we will
have to correct for this in a way such as the deformed shape is the one
we want!
7 Verify the results
Plot the thermal induced deformation of the model
If you have any difficulty with this exercise, examine or play the
session file springback.ses after opening a new database.

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